There is a way to do everybody

"There is a way to do everybody."

Quite a famous slogan amongst those teaching self protection. Is this true or false. If so, why?

I'd be interested to know what people think.

If by "doing everybody" you mean protecting yourself from them, then yes of course you can but not everybody can "do everybody". The tougher the challenge the fewer can achieve the result. That is quite true in many avenues of life.

Depends what you mean by 'do'.

if "There is a way to do everybody" means everyone can get beat, than I would say yes. No matter how "hard" or well trained someone is, there are ways to even things up, surprise, numbers, weapons etc.

Don't bring a knife to a gunfight springs to mind, in which case yes you can do anybody.

its all intent I suppose..

if you truly wanted to kill someone that bad you'd probably manage it. No matter how hard someone is they got to cross the road sometime.... can't block a car

I know what Jamie meant by that 'adage' and in many ways its true

maybe not morally correct, but true nevertheless

It's always interesting to hear what people assume is meant by the comment.

I think there is a tendancy to project a little when forming an opinion. No criticism there at all, I think it's perfectly understandable.

I actually like it a lot as a concept. BUT... I only like it because of what I take away from Jamie O'Keefe's intent. I saw it as a request rather than a statement of fact. He was saying "There is always a way to succeed. You just need to find it and it may not be the most obvious solution." He wasn't necessarily talking about physically besting the opposition in a fight, he was talking about success in the conflict and thinking outside of the box.

I realised this when I read his advice to a young girl who was being abused and his advice to a woman who was sufferring domestic abuse. There was absolutely NO physical content to his advice. It was ALL strategy and conflict management.

There IS a way to "do" everyone. There IS a way to manage every conflict. Nothing can guarantee safety 100% but there are always things you can do to manage the risk, the conflict and the contact. It's a timely reminder that not every solution is physical, in fact very often physical violence is no real solution at all.